Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-02-11
JUBILEE OF SOULS,
Pew. Dr.. Talmage's Sermon at
the Tabernacle.

A Memorable Day in the Churcl,'s History
Three Hundred and Eight New Mem
hers Received-Christ the Souls Only
shelter.
BROOKLYN, Jan. 23.-The Rev. 7. De
Witt Talmage's sermon to- day was preached
at the reception of sos new members, MAX
ing the COMMUNICATE membership OF the
Brooklyn Tabernacle $3.50. 1t was day
memorable in the history of this church.
The reverend doctors text was Isaiah lx., s:
"Who are these that fly as cloud and as
the doves 10 their windows?" Hepreached
as follows:
When God would set fast beautiful
thought He plants it in a tree; when He
would put it at1oat He fashions it into a
fish; when He would have it glide into the
air He molds it into bird. There is to
many of us a complete fascination in the
structure and habits of birds. The black
bird floating like fake of darkness
through the sunlight; the meadow lark,
with head of fawn and throat of velvet and
breast of gold; the red famingo, flying
over the Southern swamps like sparks from
the setting sun; the pelican, white and
black, night and morning tangled IN It's
wings. They seem not more Of earth than
heaven, ever vacillating between the two.
No wonder that Audubon, with his gun,
ramped through all the American forests
in search of new specimens. Geologlsts
have spent years in finding the track of a
birds claw in the new red sandstone. There
is enough of Gods architecture in snipe's
bill or o grouse's foot to confound all the
universities.
Musicians have with clefs and bars tried
to catch the sound of the nightingale and
the robin. Among the first things that a
child notices is o swallow at the caves, and
grandfather goes out with handful of
crumbs to feed the snowbirds. The Bible
is full of pathological illusions. The
birds of the Bible are not dead and stuffed,
like those of the museum, but living birds,
with futtering wings and plumage. BE
hold the fowls of the air, says Christ.
"Though to exalt thyself as the eagle, and
though thou set thy nest among the stars,
thence will bring thee down." exclaims
Obadiah. "Gayest thou the goodly wings
his desolation by saying: II am like q
pelican of the wilderness; am like an owl
of the desert; watch, and am as q spar
row upon the housetop." "Yea, the stork
in the heavens knoweth her appointed time;
and the turtle and the crane and the swal-
low observe the time of their coming; but
my people know not the judgment of the
Lord" SO says jeremiah. And in the text
Isaiah looks ahead and sees the gathering
of many people unto Christ and the church,
and it makes him think of flock of
pigeons alighting on their coop, and all at
once trying to get in at the window of the
coop, and he cries out: "Who are these
that fly as cloud and as the doves to their
windows?"
This is one of the memorable days of
the Brooklyn Tabernacle. On other Sun
days We drop the net; to-day we haul it in.
On other days we send out the invitations
against thy soul, against thy Bible, against
thy God.
for kings party; to-day we sit at the
now we claim victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Ye who have toiled and con-
tributed and prayed for the success of this
institution, take unto your souls the grand
satisfaction Of this hour. To you, o men
and women, is fulfilled the promise: "They
that SOW in tears shall reap in ioy." Wake
up, o Church of God! and bring garlands
and music, and let us celebrate our char
vest home.
Oh, this mercy of God! 1 am told it is
an ocean. Then place it on four swift
sailing crafts, with compass and charts and
choice rigging and skillful navigators, and
tell them to launch away and discover for
me the extent of this ocean. That craft
puts out in one direction and sails to the
north; this to the south; this to the east;
this to the west. They crowd on all their
canvas, and sail ten thousand years, and
one day come up the harbor Of heaven, and
1 shout to them from the beach: "Have YOU
found the shore?" And they answer: mo
shore to Gods mercy" Swift angels, dis
patched from the throne, attempt to go
across it. For million years they fly, and
fly, but then come back and fold theil
wings at the foot of the throne and cry
"No shore! No shore to Gods mercy!'
Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! sing it. I preach
it. Ipray it. Here I find man bound hand
and foot to the devil, but with one stroke of
the hammer of Gods truth the chains fall
off, and he is free forever. Mercy! Mercy!
Mercy! There is no depth it cannot faith
ON. There is no height it cannot scale.
There is no intinity it cannot compass.
When persons apply for membership in
to any society, the question is asked:
Who are they, and where do they come
from?" And as this multitude of people to-
day present themselves for membership. il
is right that we should ask: "Who are
tueoc Iult COulc dS uONeS 10 CQelr Will
dows?" They are captives, whose chains
have been broken; they are soldiers, who
have enlisted for thirty years war; they
are heirs of heaven.
They come as doves to the windows, first,
because they fly low. The eagle darts up,
as if to strike its beak into the sun. There
are birds that seem to dwell under the
caves of heaven; you see them as little
specks against the sky, SO far off that YOU
cannot guess the style of their plumage OF
the shape of their bodies. They float SC
far away that if the hunters gun be dis
charged Mt them they do not change
their course. Not SO with the doves
or pigeons; they never take any high en-
cursions. They fly around your roof and
alight on the fence and seem to dislike
great attitudes. So these souls who come
to Christ and to His church to- day fly low.
They ask. no great things; they seek a
humble place at the feet Of Christ. They
are not ashamed to be called beggars fol
mercy, they are willing to get down on their
knees, and to crawl under the table, and to
pick up the crumbs of gospel provision.
There were days when they were proud and
punctilious and memorable and pulled up;
but not now. The highest throne on earth
could not tempt Mary away from Jesus feet.
Stoop, 0 pardoned soul, if thou wouldst
enter heaven. A high look and n proud heart
God hates. Fly low. It is a mercy that
thou canst fly at all. Remember ali the
wears of thy sin. thv days of yontlf,1 ,,o,,